


A Proposal

by kittybenzedrine



Series: Timelines [54]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drunkenness, Explicit Language, F/M, Marriage Proposal, Romance, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:48:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22751248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittybenzedrine/pseuds/kittybenzedrine
Summary: A proposal is a magical time in a relationship. It's a display of affection, an offer to spend the rest of your life with the one you dearly love. Even a chance to show off a shiny ring.Leo proposes to Renee three different times over the course of two years._____All pieces of the Timelines series are standalones and can be read without context.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Series: Timelines [54]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/728796
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	A Proposal

The first time Leo proposes, he's incredibly drunk. Not buzzed, not moderately intoxicated, he’s right and properly _drunk_. He’s so drunk he hasn’t been able to get off of the couch for at least twenty minutes even though his bladder has been desperately begging to be emptied.

Normally he’s a wine sort of person. Strong liquors carry a strong taste, and he’s never been fond of that. Leo can down an entire 1.5 liter bottle of chardonnay by himself and get pleasantly drunk while simultaneously enjoying the flavors. Renee bought him a fairly nice bourbon to try, however, and he’s emptied the entire thing over the course of the night. An entire fifth of Brown Sugar Bourbon just… gone.

He’s rarely such a glutton with booze, but he’s had a particularly rough week at work and spent the entirety of today- his _thirtieth fucking birthday-_ trying to figure out how several thousands of dollars went missing from one of his businesses. Frankly, he felt he deserved a few drinks after coming home. Then Renee ended up coming to cook him a birthday dinner and brought him the bottle to try, then agreed to drink with him. It’s not his fault the bourbon was so good.

Renee’s decidedly less drunk. She’s had two mixed drinks of Disaronno and Dr. Pepper and she’s ‘a big fuckin’ girl’ as she puts it, and handles her liquor well to begin with. She takes a decent swig of what’s left in her cup, threading the fingers of her free hand in his hair. Leo gives a hum of appreciation from his spot in her lap.

“You want another bite?” she asks after setting the cup back on the coffee table, reaching for the plate of food nearby.

Opening his mouth, he lets her deposit a cube of cold steak in his mouth. It’s not quite as good cold, but she’s an excellent cook and it’s still pretty fucking good. She similarly chows down on the leftovers, offering him a small forkful of cold mashed potatoes as she chews the meat. Shaking his head, he gives a content sigh.

“You’re a doll,” he says softly, nuzzling his face into her bare thigh.

“You’re really drunk,” she replies, a smile on her face. “I mean, you’re a big dude, but _damn_. Watching you drink a whole fifth was pretty impressive, not gonna lie. I’m kinda glad I waited instead of giving you this for Valentine’s last week.”

“’S a good birthday gift, thank you.”

“It’s no problem, hon.” She massages the tips of her fingers into his scalp, listening to him gives soft, pleased sounds. “I’m glad to do this for you. You only turn thirty once, right? Yours frankly fucking sucked from the sound of it, but we can try for a better day at the next milestone birthday.” Renee grins down at him, smoothing her free hand down his cheek.

“I want you to marry me,” he blurts against her skin, gripping at her knee.

She lets out a laugh, high and sharp. It sounds almost unintentional, but she doesn’t stop and doesn’t apologize for it. Her hand continues to stroke at his face.

“We’ve only been dating for four months, Leo. I think it’s a little soon.”

“Soon, yeah,” he agrees, rubbing the tip of his nose on her thigh. “But I’m certain I wanna marry you.”

A moment of silence passes, and her hands retreat. Leo opens his eyes, worrying his drunken mouth may have gotten him into trouble. Renee’s still smiling when he looks at her, though.

“I think you’re really drunk. Come on, let’s go to bed before you pass out in here. I’m not even going to pretend I can carry you.”

Her suggestion of bed turns out to be a decent idea, because the urge to vomit hits just as they’re crossing the threshold. The next twenty minutes are spent with his head in the toilet. Renee ties his hair back and runs her fingers down his spine, soothing at him as the alcohol and dinner make a brutal reappearance.

When it finally stops, she helps him clean up and gets him to bed. Curling around her, he’s still fairly fucking certain he’d like to marry her.

The second time falls on her twenty-fourth birthday. Their first anniversary was about two weeks previous and for the occasion, he got her a silver necklace with a blood red ruby pendant to match her favorite dress. She’d been thrilled with it, but after thinking, Leo came to the realization it wasn’t something she’d wear often. Renee likes necklaces, yes, but she rarely wears them and always takes them off at the end of the night.

He doesn’t intend to get her another piece of jewelry, even an inexpensive piece. She already nearly blew a gasket when she found out that he spent over a thousand dollars on just the necklace. She would probably faint on the spot if she ever found out that he considered dropping over ten thousand on a green diamond necklace and earring set.

Leo goes to the local mall to scout around, see if anything catches his attention. She’s always fond of things she finds at Hot Topic, but none of the cutesy dresses ever fit her breasts and she’s already got every t-shirt and knickknack that she could desire. Her other favorite stores are a similar case. Leo doesn’t even dare glance as Ross. She’s so picky about the store that he doesn’t even want to try. Not even to shop for mugs. If she’d like to get them matching Scorpio and Pieces mugs, she can do that on her own time.

Briefly, he considers taking her to a sex shop and picking out a few nice toys, but she’s been rather fixated on his ass as of the late, and he’s not into anal. Not on himself at least. He doesn’t want to break the birthday girl’s heart by telling her that she can’t get a strap on to fuck him in the butt with.

Grumbling to himself, he stops by the jewelry store to check on the status of a ring he dropped off a few weeks ago. It’s a small ornate ring he only wears when he’s at fancy dinner parties, a shiny black pearl that clearly states that he has plenty of ‘fuck you’ money to throw around. The pearl came loose however, and he dropped it off to be repaired.

Leo waits around while the salesperson checks on the status of it, glancing around at the colored gemstones. There’s mostly diamonds around, whether they be white diamonds or the chocolate diamonds lumped into a new collection. Renee doesn’t like diamonds. She never wants to run the risk of purchasing blood diamonds, even if a jeweler swears up and down the diamonds are harvested without cruelty. But there’s a small selection with colorful stones, and he browses through those instead.

More rubies, some bright sapphires. Glancing over the yellow topaz, he vaguely considers getting her something purely because it’s her birthstone. She thinks it looks like piss, though. She won’t like it. Leo huffs out a sigh, crossing his arms as he looks through the display.

It’s a hundred dollar ring that catches her attention. It’s a deep, shining emerald bordered by small white diamonds- no, lab grown sapphire, the small note card nearby advertises. Renee hates diamonds, but lab grown sapphire? Those should be in the clear.

Leo doesn’t intend to walk out with a ring other than his own, but he does.

Renee chooses to go on a walk for her birthday. In the middle of the night. On a nature trail that happens to close after dark. Leo obliges regardless, packing them some snacks in a backpack and tucking the gift into a spot where she hopefully won’t find it herself.

Hand curled into hers, Leo paces at her side under the waning moon. She chatters mindlessly about her day at work, bitching about the stupidity of the general public. People only seem to become more idiotic when there’s liquor involved and unfortunately for her, she works at a liquor store.

“I got hella tips for my birthday, though,” she adds, grinning.

“Oh,” he says softly, slinging the bag off of his shoulder. “That reminds me. I got you something for your birthday.”

“Ooh, how romantic,” she teases.

Rolling his eyes, Leo kneels in the dust and unzips the bag. It takes a great deal of digging to find it in its little hidden nook. Then it doesn’t seem to want to come out, but he finally frees it from the small squished spot. He offers it up to her.

Renee blinks, tentatively taking it and looking it over in the weak moonlight. Her eyes are wide as she slowly turns the silver band in her fingers but doesn’t put it on. After a moment, she meets eyes with him.

“Is this..?”

Leo’s brows furrow. Is it what? He opens his mouth to ask her to clarify, but it abruptly hits. He’s down on one knee on a nice, romantic walk, and he just handed her- Christ, he’s dense sometimes.

“Oh! No, it’s just a ring-”

She laughs, sounding relieved. “Okay, alright. It just- I would have said yes, but like, we’ve never talked about it-”

“I agree,” he says, rising off the ground. He brushes the dirt off of his jeans “That’s a discussion we’d be having beforehand, I assure you. It’s simply something pretty that caught my eye, and I know you like emeralds.”

She slides it onto her ring finger regardless, admiring it in the moonlight. “It’s gonna look really fuckin’ pretty with that necklace you got me.”

It’s been a miserably hot August, even by Texas’ standards. The hottest part of day during the week peaks at nearly 112 Fahrenheit. It gets so hot that heat lightning flashes in the sky nearly every night, though the occasional storm does blow through and temporarily cool the air for an hour or so.

Renee comes in sometime after eight, hot, sunburned, and looking pissed. She tends to get that way when the summer harvest comes. Her older brother always summons her to help, and she never tells him no even though she fucking hates helping out around the family farm.

“Bad day?” Leo asks gently. Her cat leaps off of his lap, making a small trill.

“Yes, it was a bad fucking day,” she seethes, kicking the door shut behind herself. “Caleb started in on me as soon as I fucking got there. ‘When are you going to get married to him, Renee? You’re living in sin!’, ‘You know, you need to figure out your own insurance, you age out in just about a year!’, ‘Are you ever going to come spend more time with your nieces and nephews?’”

She slams her purse down on the kitchen table, running a hand through her hair. Her ire only raises as her fingers get tangled into her messy curls. “And he wonders why I never want to fucking come around! It’s like he didn’t use me as a live-in maid and babysitter until I fucked off at seventeen to get away from him! All he ever does is fucking hound me about shit that doesn’t concern him.”

“Your brother is dense and meddles,” Leo agrees. “Caleb loves you, yes. But he should mind his business. I’ll even arrange a nice overnight visit so he can hear us living in sin through his bedroom wall. And stop shouting. You’re scaring the cat.”

“Fuck the cat!” Renee huffs, but he catches a small smile on her face as she leans down to pet her small, ugly cat. “You know I don’t mean it, baby. I love you.”

“I love you too,” he replies sarcastically, rising from the sofa. “I heated up that casserole you made. It’s going to be done soon, I think.”

Renee accepts it when he opens his arms to her. Her hair smells like- he’s not sure how to describe it. She smells like _outside_. Like plants and the breeze and the sun warming her curls. She also smells like she forgot deodorant this morning, but he feels like mentioning that will get him smacked. Leo kisses the top of her head, feeling her melt into his embrace.

He intends to tell her that he loves her. He’s better at painting with a brush as opposed to his words, but he imagines he can get something out. Something sweet, like that she’s the first ray of sunshine in the winter, or that he looks at her the way she looks at a field of sunflowers. Perhaps something more romantic, like that he intends to marry her one day and he would love to build the rest of his life with her. Or maybe sensual, but she’s too hot and cranky and will probably think he’s trying to get into her pants.

Leo tries to tell her that he loves her.

What comes out instead is a soft, breathy request of, “Marry me.”

She tenses in his arms, and Leo realizes what he’s done. He finds that he doesn’t regret his request but wishes he’d chosen a better time. Taking in a breath, he rolls with it.

“Much like the first time I proposed to you, this is spur of the moment and I have no ring. Only difference is I’m not drunk. I was trying to tell you that I love you, but that came out instead so I can only assume the universe has deemed it time.”

“You really know how to give a girl whiplash,” she muffles into his chest, fingers curled into his shirt. “But yeah. Okay.”

“I should have went with it on your birthday last year,” he tells her, stroking his fingers down her spine. “It was romantic and I had a ring, at least. Now you smell like a field and were just on the verge of angry tears.”

“Could you shut up?” Renee asks, but he can feel her suppress a laugh.

“But look. You’re smiling now, yes? That’s what matters.” He kisses the top of her head. “We can pick something out this weekend if you’d like. I know your brother will be _thrilled_ that we’ll no longer be ‘living in sin.’”

“Shut _up_ ,” she groans into his chest. “How do you manage to ruin your own proposal by being a sarcastic ass?”

“You adore it,” he teases, tilting her head up to kiss her.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentine's even though I'm like two days late! *peace sign emoji*
> 
> Also, [here's the ring he got her.](https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcTx2NNyQTn_OtPsVe6wD_06SYbEGIE0GD66UUVmYH9iv0KP4D7RuBAp__YjX4LrV4fIbdjz6SLNC2eEwPwYo6hkZr2WqV0LibKS7zoDZF-s2sgTO43jzXW6Ag&usqp=CAE)
> 
> As always, I love hearing from you guys. Feel free to comment or hit me with that sweet, sweet Kudos button.
> 
> I have [my blog](http://iwillpooponthefloor.tumblr.com) on tumblr, if you'd like to check that out, though it's mostly unrelated content. I'm not active much on there, but I'll try to get back to you if you'd rather contact me there.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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